Grille-blade and end-bar assembly



Patented Sept. 22, 1936 PATENT OFFICE 2,055,010 GRILLE-BLADE AND END -BAR ASSEMBLY Lee B. Green,

Globe Machine & Stamping Company,

Lakewood, Ohio, assignor to The Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application July 16, 1934, Serial No. 735,000

Claims.

My invention relates to metal grilles (such as frontal grilles for automobile radiator shells) of the class in which parallel blades have their flat faces coparallel, and in which the opposite 5 ends of the blades are secured to end members which rigidly space the blades and by which end members the blades also may be supported to the apertured front member with which the grille is to be used.

In general, the objects of my invention are those of providing a grille of this class in which the blades can speedily and securely be anchored to the end members of the grille without requiring either welding operations or auxiliary fastening elements; in which no special formations on the blades need to be provided to effect their fastening to the end members; in 'which the mere bending of end parts of each blade against oppositely directed faces of the two end members will cooperate with the shaping of these end members to effect a rigid assembling of the blades and the end members; and in which the end member can be cheaply formed from metal strips. 7 i

Moreover, my invention provides a novel end member for a parallel-bladed grille which can be adapted with equal facility to U-sectioned blades, single-web blades tear drop blades. This term tear drop blade is now used by the trade to designate a blade which is formed from a sheet metal strip by curvedly folding the strip about its medial 1on gitudinal line after the manner of forming a U-sectioned blade presenting parallel blade webs, and extending this'forming operation until the free edges of the two blade webs contact with each other so that the said webs converge rearwardly when the blade has its convexed end facing forward in the grille.

Illustrative of the mannerin which I attain the above recited objects,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation 'of a grille embodying my invention and including blades of a tear drop section. V

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary planview of the same.

Fig 3 is an enlarged perspective'view of the upper end of one of the blades before it is at- 50 tachedto the upper end member. v

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a part of the upper end member alone.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, with dotted lines showing theup- 55 per portion of a blade before anupper end portprovided with either integral or attached frontal beads, or so-called tion of each web of the blade is bent down against the sloping flange of the end member.

Fig. 6 is a plan section taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a plan view allied to a part of Fig. 4 but showing the blade-end anchoring as effected by bending portions of both webs of the blade in the same direction.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of an upper end member suitable for use with a parallel-web U-sectioned blade.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the part of an upper end member shown in Fig. 8 after a U-sectioned blade has been anchored to it.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a part of an upper end member designed for use with a singleweb blade presenting a tubular bead at its front, including the upper end portions of an already anchored and of a not yet anchored blade.

Fig. 11 is a sectionallied to Fig. 6 but showing 20 a blade of the same type as in Fig. 10, with a frontal ornamenting tube attached to frontal bead on the blade.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary plan view of the centralfportion of an end member, allied to Fig. 4 but designed for use with tear drop blades disposed so asto give a V-front effect to the grille.

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of an upper portion of a grille allied to that of Figs. 1 and 2, but showing a different construction of the end member.

Fig. 14 is a transverse section through an upper end member in which the slotted webextends rearwardly at right angles to the frontal web, including an elevation of a portion of blade which has its end cut off at a suitable cooperating angle, showing this blade portion as it appears'before the tip of this-blade end is turned down.

In constructing an upright-bladed grille after the here illustrated manner, I provide two coune terpart, but relatively inverted end members, as shown in Fig. 1 for a flat-fronted grille having upright blades .of equal length and having its end members horizontal. In Figs. 1, 4 and 5 each upper end member includes a'rigid frontal strip I which has its flat faces upright, and an also rigid rearward strip comprising an upper web 2 secured flatwise to the upper part of the rear face of the said frontal strip I (as for example by welds 6), and. which has its lower por tion 3 slope downward rearwardly at an acute angle to the rearward face strip.

This sloping rear web 3 is provided with spaced slots 4 each shaped for slidablyfitting the major rearward portion of one blade of the grille, the

of the said frontal w of a blade. With the slots thus arranged, each upper end of a blade can readily be slid upward partly through one of the said slots and with the forward edge of the blade engaging the rear face of the lower part of the frontal strip I to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5; namely until the rear portion of the square-cut upper end of the blade projects beyond the top of the sloping web 3 and the upper endof the blade abuts against the lower edge of the forward end 42) of the slot.

After the upper blade portion is thus positioned, so that each web of the blade has a triangular portion 2) projecting above the said sloping web 3 of the upper end member, I forcibly bend these two triangular blade-web portions away from each other and downwardly against the said sloping web 3, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This clinching of the said triangular web portions 2) draws the blade upward tightly against the lower edge of the forward end 42) of the slot through which the blade partly extends. The frontal strip I then bears for a considerable vertical distance against the front edge of the blade, the rear blade edge bears rearwardly against the lower edge of the rear end 4a of the slot, and the longitudinal side walls of the'slot bear respectively against the outer faces of the portions of the two blade webs which are disposed withinthe slot;

In practice, the acute angle I (Fig. 1) between the sloping web and thepart of the frontal strip I which faces this web can be varied, even for the same width of blade, by suitably altering the clear spacing of the rear ends of each slot from the said strip. However, I preferably construct and dispose each slot so that at least three-quarters of the width of a blade will'extend through it, and make the said angle 1 (Fig. 1) not over 60 degrees. Moreover, instead of bending the two triangular web end portions in relatively opposite directions, these might both be bent toward the same side of the blade in overlapping relation to each other, as shown blade web portions b and b in Fig. '7.

If the blades of the grille are to beef the now' customary parallel-webbed U-section, such as the blade 8, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 9, each slot 9 would have p-arallellonger side walls. In that case, the rear end wallof the slot may be provided with a reentrant nub 9a as shown in Figs. 3 and 9, so as topositively hold the rearmost portions of the slot-housed blade webs spread apart, although I have not found this necessary with blades of the now customary rigidity of metal. I V j Moreover, both the frontal contour of the end members and the angles at which the medial 1ongitudinal planes P of the slots extend with respect to the adjacent portions of the frontal strips I of the end members may be varied according to the frontal appearance desired for the grille. For example, if a tear drop blade grille is to present a V-front or other non-planular front, each end member may have its frontal strip bent so that the rear face of this strip corresponds to the by the superposed.

shape of the proposed frontal surface s of the grille. Thus, Fig. 12 shows the central portion of an upper end member for a V-front grille as comprising a front strip which has two portions Ib diverging rearwardly from opposite ends of a central portion I a, and in which the upper web 2a of the rearward strip is similarly bent so that these are adjoined in the proposed frontal surface of the grille.

Then the medial planes between the webs of the several blades can be kept co-parallel by disposing the central slot I3 so that its longitudinal medial plane P is at right angles to the upright faces of the adjacent portions of the strips I and 2, while other slots I l would have their longitudinal medial planes P parallel to the aforesaid plane P and hence oblique to the adjacent strip portion 22), all slots being disposed with their rear ends R at the same distance 11; from the rear face of the front strip I when this distance is measured in the said medial planes of the slots.

Moreover, the construction of my novel end members may also be varied otherwise, it being merely essential (when the blades are cut off squarely) that each end member presents a face portion in rearward engagement with front edge portions of the blades, and that each end member includes a slotted Web which slopes rearwardly (with respect to the said face portion) at an acute angle opening toward the midlength of the blades.

For example, Fig. 13 shows a portion of an upper end member having as its main member a single strip of metal, formed to an angle section presenting an upright frontal web I4 against which the blades B bear forwardly, and a companion web I5 which slopes downward rearwardly and which is slotted after the heretofore de- 7 scribed manner so as to have upper end portions 17 of the blade'webs down against its upper face.

With the construction shown in Fig. 13, anchoring lugs It may be welded to the frontal web I 4 so that the end member can readily be supported by bolts extending through perforations I! in such lugs; while with the end member construction of the previously described figures such supporting vbolts can extend through alined perforations I8 in. the overlapping portions of the frontal strip I and the upper web 2 of the rear strip.

In the heretofore described embodiments, the end members were designed for use with blades which are cut to present their end edges at right angles to their longitudinal edges, thereby avoiding a waste of metal when cutting the blades from previously formed long folded strip. But the blades may also have other than square-cut ends if the angle I in Fig. l is correspondingly varied so that the blade ends, when slid partly through slots in the rearwardly extending web of an end member, have their webs projecting only for part of the width of these webs beyond the'said web. For example, Fig. 14 shows a crosssection through an upper end member in which the slotted web 28 extends at right angles to the frontal blade-engaging web 2|, and in which the blade I8 has its end cutoff at a rearwardly opening obtuse angle I9 to the forward edge of the blade.

Thus shaped, each blade when halted in its upward sliding through a slot (as here shown) exposes a rearwardly widening portion I 8a above the said slotted web and adapted to be clinched down against the latter. In other words, my expeditious arrangement for anchoring blades to also. be employed equally well with single webbed blades. For example, Fig. 10 shows portions of D an upper part of a grillein which each blade I "are suitably positioned, all

consists of a flat strip having its forward edge portion curled into a tube or ornamenting bead l l, and in which the anchoring part of the blade end is a single triangular portion Illa. For such a blade, each slotl2 would be of a simple rec- 5 tangular shape, as also when a similar blade has a'separately constructed (longitudinally slitted) ornamenting tube I3 attached to' its frontal bead 0. shown in Fig. 11.

Moreover, when the slots in an end member blades for the grille can be cross-connected in any customary manner, as for example by tiefbars of which one is shown in Fig. 1, and each end bar can then be slid N simultaneously over the corresponding ends of all of the blades.

Other changes also might be made without departing eitherfrom the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims, so that I do not wish to be limited to the illustrative details of construction and arrangement heretofore described.

I claim as my invention: I

l. A grille comprising generally fiat and coparallel blades presenting their similarly directed ends at a uniform angle to their forward edges, and spaced end members extending transversely of the flat faces of the blades; each end member including a flat web having the surface of its outward face intersecting the said blade ends at an acute angle to their end faces, and having parallel slots extending transversely of an imaginary surface tangential to the forward edges of the blades, through each of which slots a blade end extends only for apart of its width; the said web having portions of its inward face adjacent to the forward ends of the slots respectively engagthereof engage opposite sides of the blade which extends partly through that slot.

4. A grille as per claim 1, in which each end member also includes a portion spaced forwardly from the rear end of each slot by a distance corresponding to the width of a blade, the said portion engaging the forward edges of the several blades.

5. An upright grille comprising upright, parallel and generally flat blades presenting their forward edges in a common surface, the blades being of uniform cross-section and having their adjacent ends cut off at a right angle to their forward edges; and end members each comprising a frontal web having its rear face conforming slots of longitudinally of the frontal web and of such a a length that the difference between the spacings of the two ends of each slot from the said frontal web is shorter than the width of a blade, the rear end 'of each slot having its minimum spacing from the rear face of the frontal web corresponding to the width of a blade, each blade having each end thereof abutting intermediate its width against the inward edge of the forward end of one of the slots and having the more rearward part of its end portion extending through the same slot and bearing against the outward face of the web having that slot.

6. A grille as per claim 5, in which each slot in each end member has its forward end spaced from the rear face of the frontalweb, by a distance not exceeding approximately one-third'the width of a blade.

7. A grille as per claim 5, in which the said acute angle is between approximately 50 and 60 degrees.

8. A grille as per claim 5, in which the bore of each slot corresponds in shape substantially to the cross-sectional shape of the part of a blade which extends forwardly from the rear edge of spect to the frontal web and extending rearwardly from the upper end of the frontal web, the slotted web having spaced transverse slots; and blades each having its front edge engaging a rear face of the frontal web below the slotted web, and each having a rearward blade-end portion extending through one of the slots; each slot having its rear end engaging the rear edge of the blade of which a portion extends through that slot, and having the lower edge of the forward end of the slot engaging the end of the blade intermediate of the width of that end; the portion of each blade end which extends beyond a slot extending at an angle to the general direction of the blade and engaging the adjacent face of the slotted web of the end member to cooperate with the said engagement of the blade end with the lower edge of the forward end of the slot in clamping the blade to the end member.

11. A grille comprising parallel blades of uniform width and which blades have their adja cent ends cut off at a uniform angle to their forward edges; and an end member including a frontal web extending in front of and contiguous to an end portion of the forward edge of each blade, and also including a slotted web extending rearwardly from the forward web and provided with slots through which the rearward portions of similarly directed ends of the blades respectively extend, the slotted web presenting its outward face at a rearwardly open acute angle to the adjacent end of each blade; each blade having a portion of its rear edge and a portion of its end respectively engaging edges of the rear and forward ends of a slot; each blade end part which extends beyond a slot bearing flatwise against the outward face of the slotted web.

12. A grille including double-webbed upright blades of counterpart cross-section, the said bladeshaving their similarly directed ends cut off at a uniform angle to their forward edges; and an end member comprisinga front Web hearing against end portions of the forward edges of the blades, and a second web extending rearwardly from a part of the frontal web which is spaced freely from the free ends of the said forward blade edges, the said second web presenting its outward face in a surface intersecting the ends of the blades at an acute angle to the latter; the said second web having spaced transverse slots each of which has its rear end spaced from the rear face of the frontal member by a distance corresponding to the width of a blade; each blade having rear portions of both of its blade webs extending through a slot, and having the web parts which are disposed beyond the said second web diverging from each other and respectively engaging the outward face of the said second web of the end member at opposite sides of the slot.

13. A grille comprising co-parallel blades'presenting their forward edges in a common upright surface and their similarly directed ends at uniform angle to their forward edges; and an end member including in rigid formation a frontal web-bearing rearwardly against the said forward edges of the blades adjacent to the similarly directed ends of the blades; and a rearward web extending rearwardly from the said frontal web and having its upper face in a plane intersecting the said ends of the blades at an acute and rearwardly open angle; the said rearward web being provided with slots through which the rearward portions of the said blades respectively extend. and against the side walls of which slots the said blades fit; each slot having its rear end engaginga rear edge of onevblade and having the inward edge of its forward end engaging an end portion of that blade; the portions of the blade ends which project beyond the slots being in flat wise engagement with the outward face of the said rearward web of the'end member.

14. A grille as per claim 12, in which the two blade-web parts housed by each slot bear respectively against the two sidewalls of the slot.

15. An upright grille comprising upright, square-ended and generally fiat blades having the medial planes between their side-faces co-parallel, and two end members each comprising a frontal metal strip presenting its rearward face upright and its longitudinal edges generally horizontal; each end member also including a second metal strip having its upper part disposed behind and secured fiatwise to the upper part of the said frontal strip, the said second strip having its lower part extending rearwardly at an acute angle to the lower part of the said frontal strip; the said reawardly extending strip portions of the second strip of each end member being provided with spaced transverse slots, each slot having the rearward portion of its bore corresponding sub stantially in section to that of the rearward portion of the blade and each slot having its rear edge horizontally spaced from the lower portion of the frontal strip by a distance corresponding to the width of a blade; each blade having its forward edges bearing forwardly against the frontal strips of both end members, and having only the rearward major portion of each end of the blade extending through and projecting beyond one of the slots, each projecting blade end portion bearing fiatwiseagainst the outward face of'the slotted strip of the adjacent end member.

7 LEE B. GREEN. 

